How Far Do Children Move? Spatial Distances after Leaving the Parental Home

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. This series presents research findings based either directly on data from the German SocioEconomic Panel Study (SOEP) or using SOEP data as part of an internationally comparable data set (e.g. CNEF, ECHP, LIS, LWS, CHER/PACO). SOEP is a truly multidisciplinary household panel study covering a wide range of social and behavioral sciences: economics, sociology, psychology, survey methodology, econometrics and applied statistics, educational science, political science, public health, behavioral genetics, demography, geography, and sport science. Terms of use: Documents inThe decision to publish a submission in SOEPpapers is made by a board of editors chosen by the DIW Berlin to represent the wide range of disciplines covered by SOEP. There is no external referee process and papers are either accepted or rejected without revision. Papers appear in this series as works in progress and may also appear elsewhere. They often represent preliminary studies and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be requested from the author directly. AbstractLittle is known about how far young adults move when they leave their parental home initially.We addressed this question using data from ten waves (2000 -2009) of the German Socioeconomic Panel Study on spatial distances calculated by the geo-coordinates of residential moves (N = 1,425). Linear regression models predicted young adults" moving distance by factors at the individual, family, household, and community level. Overall, spatial distances of initial moveouts were strikingly small with a median value of only 9.5 kilometers. Those who were welleducated, female, single, childless, had highly educated fathers and high parental household incomes moved across greater distances. The effect of young adults" education was moderated by the local community"s degree of urbanization, supporting the brain drain assertion. In line with developmental models of migration, our results further show that young adults stayed closer if the parental household was still located at their place of childhood. We found two interactions with gender: At the family level, daughters stayed closer when leaving a single-parent household. At the community level, women from Eastern Germany moved farther, suggesting that the surplus of men in the Eastern periphery is at least to some extent an outcome of initial migration decisions.2

Staying in a state of flux: A life course perspective on the diverse staying processes of rural young adults

“…Place attachment and belonging are consistently reported as important (Glendinning et al, ; Kloep, Hendry, Glendinning, Ingebrigtsen, & Espnes, ; Leopold, Geissler, & Pink, ; Looker & Naylor, ; Thissen, Droogleever Fortuijn, Strijker, & Haartsen, ) and can out‐weigh any perceived negatives to staying in the rural. Attachment may be because of family roots, memories, and a sense of home; to social factors, such as close family or friendship ties and a sense of community; to places of living memory, residential familiarisation, or socialisation; or to the physical and natural qualities of the area (aesthetic, wilderness, and biological diversity; Gustafason, ; Lewicka, ; Rérat, ; Trell, van Hoven, & Huigen, ).…”

“…Thus far, we have identified the importance of life events, relationships with others, and the ongoing nature of the staying process. A further factor emerges, that of "place" (Barcus & Brunn, 2010;Leopold et al, 2012;Rérat, 2014;Roin, 2015). Place, however, is particularly nuanced in the staying process and includes familial, physical, and social elements that represent strong senses of belonging.…”

Adolescent Intergenerational Cohesiveness and Young Adult Proximity to Mothers

“…In Sweden, moves toward neighborhoods with extended kin are more likely for people with less education and lower incomes or who are out of work (Hedman, 2013). In Germany, children leaving home typically relocate nearby, but move farther away if they leave a high-income household in an urban area, move out early, are better educated, or have no children (Leopold, Geissler, & Pink, 2012).…”

“…Thus, selection out of coresidence and into independent living may downwardly bias estimates of the association between relationship quality and residential distance. Time spent in the parental home during young adulthood has been linked to increased solidarity later (Leopold et al., 2012), a finding with likely implications for subsequent relocations. To take account of this potential selection bias, analyses of residential proximity need to consider coresidence.…”

Spatial Distance Between Parents and Adult Children in the United States

“…Prior studies of the United States and other countries that examined proximity beyond coresidence found that adults with lower education were more likely to live close to their parents and other family members (Chan & Ermisch, , ; H. Choi, Schoeni, Langa, & Heisler, ; Clark & Wolf, ; Compton & Pollak, ; Garasky, ; Kalmijn, ; Lauterbach & Pillemer, ; Leopold, Geissler, & Pink, ; Malmberg & Pettersson, ; Rogerson, Weng, & Lin, ; Spring et al, ). There also were differences in proximity to parents by race, with Blacks living closer to their parents than Whites (Bianchi, McGarry, & Seltzer, ; Compton & Pollak, ; Spring et al, ).…”